Abstract :

Background: Thalassemia affects approximately 4.4 out of every 10,000 live births throughout the world. This condition causes both males and females to inherit the relevant gene mutations equally because it follows an autosomal pattern of inheritance with no preference for gender. Approximately 5% of the worldwide population has a variation in the alpha or beta part of the hemoglobin molecule, although not all of these are symptomatic and some are known as silent carriers.¹

Objective: Find the level of stress among care givers of Thalassemia attending Thalassemia clinics.

Methods: Descriptive survey research design has been adopted with the sample of 50 care givers of thalassemia attending Thalassemia clinics of H.S.K Hospital and Research Centre, Bagalkot. Data were collected using self report method and Hospital’s records. Tools used for data collection were; socio-demographic questionnaire, The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess the stress among care givers of thalassemia.

Results: Findings related to assessment of level of stress among care givers of thalassemia shows that, highest percent 66 % of care givers were mild stressed, 34 percent of them were have moderate stress. There is a significant association was found between level of stress and sex of care givers (ᵪ²=0.0254; P<0.05).And no significant association was found between level of stress among care givers of thalassemia and their other socio demographic variables.

Conclusion: The overall findings of the study revealed that, care givers thalassemia was had mild and moderate level of stress. There is a significant association was found between level of stress and sex of care givers.

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Keywords :

Care givers, Stress and Socio-demographic variable, Thalassemia.

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